1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of data management through a digital network. More particularly, the invention relates to system and method for AAL5 enhanced encapsulation.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the boom of the Internet and digital communication networking, many advances have been made in router technology. Layer 2 protocols such as Frame Relay, ATM Adaptation Layer, Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), or Ethernet transport their associated Protocol Data Units (“PDUs”) across a MultiProtocol Label Switching (“MPLS”) network using several methods of encapsulation. MPLS uses labels, or tags, that contain forwarding information, which are attached to IP packets by a router that sits at the edge of the network known as a label edge router (LER). The routers in the core of the network, known as label switch routers (LSRs), examine the label more quickly than if they had to look up destination addresses in a routing table.
The Pseudo Wire Edge to Edge Emulation (PWE3) WorkingGroup of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has developed a mechanism for transporting the various layer 2 protocols described above over MPLS. One prior art mechanism is described in “Encapsulation Methods for Transport of Layer 2 Frames Over MPLS,” by Luca Martini et. Al. (May, 2001) Prior art mechanisms for sending AAL5 traffic over MPLS pose scalability challenges for large numbers of ATM-AAL5 connections in terms of provisioning.